Road trip to Memphis, Tennessee and Culture Proof

We are about to get back home from a road trip to Memphis, TN. It has been a fun trip and Bubbles came with us.

On the way up we stopped in Huntsville, AL, to visit an old friend of Alex. He and his family met us at the space museum there which was a fun visit.

Checking out the Earth quake simulator.

❤️❤️

One of rides at the space museum. Alex, Gabriel, Marlee and Noah went on it. Rafael was unfortunately too short.

Next stop, and the end stop, Memphis, Alex was

Speaking at a family conference called Culture Proof. We would all participate, the kids has their own activities and speakers.

We arrived a couple of days early and had a chance to explore Memphis a little. The boys were very impressed with the Bass Pro Shop built as a giant pyramid but unfortunately the city was very run down over all. A lot of homeless people and things thst were not maintained.

After checking out the giant Bass Pro Shop that, in addition to the shop itself, had two or three restaurants and an hotel, we went to explore Mud Island. We found a good parking space close to the bridge leading over to the island. There used to be a train you could take running under the bridge but unfortunately that is not working anymore. The cars were still there and the windows were all broken. We walked across the bridge over to the island. At the island there is a really cool miniature version of the Mississippi River, it used to have water running in it but it is not running anymore. There used to be a great museum at the island, but not anymore. The amphitheater at the island is also closed but there are plans to renovate it at some point. Even if it was very sad to see how run down and abandoned everything was it did have some bright sides - there were very few people on the island and no park rangers yelled at the boys when they climbed the big Memphis-letters or explored the amphitheater. :-)

Crossing the bridge over to Mud Island.

View from the bridge and looking down on part of the Mississippi River model. 

We walked the whole way from the beginning of the river to end, where it enters the Mexican Golf.   

And then we had a lot of fun exploring the giant letters :-)

The walk back to the car felt long. It was so hot and we had run out of water. It felt so good to go in the pool when we got back to the hotel. 

There was a big storm during the night so it was wet and muddy in the woods the next day. The river was moving pretty fast with all the water. We had a fun walk. 

 

Every so often there was a sign like this. Makes me wonder if the risk for crime is big on this little path…

The conference we went to was a lot of fun and the boys did not want to leave when it was over. Tomorrow we will arrive back home in Ormond.

New Smyrna boat ride and Father’s Day

More fun boat adventures as we went to Lilly’s island in new Smyrna with some friends. We saw dolphins several times but didn’t get a good picture of them.

David and Nara (they are so cute when they play together!!)

Our company :-)

Happy Father's day to my love! Thank you building such an awesome family with me and raising these wild boys (and little girl) with me. Thank you for working hard and being a true provider. 

Maria was all dressed up for Father’s day and looked like a little princess. 

All the “babies” at 10 months old.

And today…

Boat and beach

Alex has recently replaced the whole steering mechanism on the boat (by himself!) after it broke, and we took it for a  test drive to a near by island where we had a picnic. Rhe boat worked great! It was a lot of fun but as soon as we got back in the car a thunder storm came.  

Safely in the car when it is raining like crazy outside. 

Beach day with friends!